Pile fabric knitting machines



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FILE FABRIC KNITTING MACHINES Filed April 10, 1959 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 180,2229 QHowes, by W flii flnegjs Feb. 6, 1962 l. c. HOWES 3,019,623

FILE FABRIC KNITTING MACHINES I Filed April 10, 1959 s Sheets-Sheet 53,019,623 lILE FABRIC KNITTING MACHINES Irving C. Howes, North Andover,Mass., assignor to Davis & Fur-her Machine Company, North Andover, Mass,a corporation of Massachusetts Filed Apr. It), 1959, Ser. No. 805,399 3Claims. (Cl. 66-9) This invention relates to knitting machines and isparticularly concerned with that type of knitting machine having one ormore carding head attachments whereby carded fibers may be introduced tothe knitting needles near the point of knitting to be bound immediatelythereafter into the knitted fabric thereby to produce a knitted fabricwith pile on one side.

Machines for introducing pile into knitted fabrics are well known, butthe carding head attachments heretofore used to produce this result havebeen of a relatively complicated nature. By the construction disclosedhereinafter, it will be seen that I have provided a carding head ofrelatively simple structure that delivers the carded fibers to theneedles just ahead of the knitting position, and each carding head, ofwhich there will be at least one and may be as many as four, will bedriven by the motor that drives the knitting machine.

According to the present invention, existing circular knitting machinesmay be readily adapted to produce pile knitted fabric by a relativelysimple, inexpensive conversion procedure. The power requirements of thecarding heads are relatively small (in the order of horsepower) so thata slightly larger knitting machine motor will have adequate capacity tocarry the added load.

All of the carding elements are carried in bearings that are readilyadjustable so that optimum carding results may be obtained. On the other.hand, a minimum of carding elements are used. These consist of a pairof feed rolls that feed the fibers to the lickerin and a dofier whichcarries the fibers directly from the lickerin to the needles. If desired(and the results may be improved somewhat thereby), a brush or dofferclearer roll may be introduced to act jointly with the lickerin anddoffer. This, however, is a refinement and may or may not be used aspreferred.

Since the carding head includes only three principal elements and afourth subsidiary element, if desired, it will be appreciated that thesupporting frame and driving mechanism will be of equal simplicity, thusenabling the costs to be held to a low figure while producing a knittedpile fabric of as good, if not better, quality than those produced bythe more complicated carding heads now in use.

These and other objects of the invention will become more apparent asthe description proceeds with the aid of the accompanying drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 shows the carding head in side elevation looking from the right.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a side elevation similar to FIG. 1 but looking from the left.

FIG. 4 is a front elevation.

FIG. 5 is a vertical section taken approximately on the line 5-5 of FIG.2.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of a portion of the lickerin to show moreaccurately the shape of the wires.

Referring first to FIG. 1, there is shown in the righthand portionthereof a conventional circular knitting machine, which comprises atable 2 that customarily stands on the floor. On this is the knittingmachine base 4 which supports in known fashion the circular knittingcylinder 6. The knitting cylinder has a large number of circularlyarranged knitting needles 8 which rotate continuously and nited StatesPatent 0 3,53%,523 Patented Feb. 5, 1982 ice cooperate with the yarnintroduced at the knitting point 10 to produce in a well known manner atubular knitted fabric.

The introduction of individual fibers at the knitting point 10 has beena process practiced for many years, and it results in the production ofa pile on the exterior of the knitted tubular fabric. The presentinvention is concerned with the specific mechanism that is used topresent carded fibers to the knitting needles at the knitting point 10.This structure will now be described.

On the under side of the knitting head, there is afiixed a gear 12concentric with the knitting head. A radially extending platform 14 issecured to the base 4 and on this platform is mounted a bearing 16 inwhich is a Vertically extending shaft 18 having on its upper end a gear20 which coacts with gear 12. On the lower end of shaft 18 is a beveledgear 22, which coacts with a second beveled gear 24 on a crosswiseextending shaft 26 carried by suitable bearings indicated at 28 and 30in FIG. 2.

On the righthand end of shaft 26, as viewed in FIGS. 2 and 4, is asprocket 32 which is arranged to drive the lickerin, doffer and dofferclearer roll while a second sprocket 34 on the opposite end of shaft 26is arranged to drive the feed rolls.

Referring now to FIG. 1, the mechanism for driving the lickerin, dofferand dolfer clearer roll will be described. Sprocket 32, rotatingcounter-clockwise, drives chain 36 and sprocket 38 mounted on shaft 40.To sprocket 38 is affixed a larger sprocket 42, having thereon a chain44 which travels over a small sprocket 46 attached to the shaft 48 ofthe doffer 50. Chain 44 also engages a some what larger sprocket 52which is affixed to shaft 54 on which is the lickerin 56. By thisarrangement, it will be seen that the doifer will have a considerabiyhigher peripheral speed than the lickerin in accord with normalpractice. It should also be noted that the dotIe-r shaft 48 isapproximately on the same level as the needles so that the fibers willbe swept into the hooks of the needles in a manner to provide maximumfiber density.

Turning now to the other side of the machine as shown in FIG. 3, theshaft 26 has thereon a sprocket 34 which rotates clockwise and driveschain 60 over a larger sprocket 62. This sprocket is amxed to the shaft64, having thereon a small gear 66 which coacts with a large gear 68fixed on shaft 70. To this latter shaft is afiixed a small gear 72 whichcoacts with a large gear 74 fixed on shaft 76, which shaft carries thetop feed roll 78. On the righthand end of shaft 76, as viewed in FIG. 4,is a gear which coacts with a similar gear 82 mounted on shaft 84, onwhich is mounted the bottom feed roll 86.

The two feed rolls, which are best seen in FIGS. 4 and 5, are numbered78 and 86 and rotate counter-clockwise and clockwise respectively, withtheir nip located directly above a guide trough 88. This trough, whichhas sides 90 and a rear wall 94, acts to direct the entering fibers tothe feed rolls.

By virtue of the drive shown in FIG. 3 and heretofore described, it willbe clear that the feed rolls 78 and 86 rotate relatively slowly inrelation to the speeds of the lickerin and doifer. These relative speedsare factors that are well known in the carding art and need not be goneinto here in further detail. Suffice it to say that the fibers fed bythe feed rolls to the lickerin and thence placed on the needles by thedoffer 5!) will be in sufficient quantity to produce a pile of therequired density.

All of the elements just described are carried by an outer extension ofplatform 14, which extension is numbered 96, and hereinafter togetherwith platform 14 will be referred to as the carding head frame. Theextension 96 is shiftable tangentially of the needles by the transverseslide shown at 98 in FIGS. 1 and 5. When properly set, it may be boltedto maintain its position. A bracket 100 mounted on and extendingcrosswise of extension 96 is capable of adjustable movement in a radialdirection with respect to the needles 8. Bracket 100 has two upwardlyextending spaced supports 102 and 104 to which are aflixed in verticallyadjustable relation bearing carrying elements 1% and 108, which in turnsupport shaft 48 of the doffer 50. By loosening the nuts 110 and 112 andturning the screws 114 and 116, the shaft 48 may be adjusted to bringthe doffer in proper vertical relation with respect to needles 8. Byloosening bolts 118, bracket 100 may be shifted radially to complete theadjustment of doffer 50 with respect to the needles.

With the doffer adjusted, the adjustment of the other elements may thenproceed. By generally similar means which need not be described infurther detail, it will be seen that the bracket 120 carrying thelickerin on shaft 54 may be adjusted horizontally with respect tobracket 100 by rotation of the nuts 123 and 125 on screw 122, whichscrew is fixed to bracket 120 and slidable through bracket 188. Theshaft 54 may be adjusted vertically with respect to bracket 120 byrotation of the screws 124 and 126. Shaft 84 of the bottom feed roll isin fixed relation to bracket 120 but shaft 76 carrying the top feed rollmay be adjusted horizontally with respect to bracket 120 by rotation ofscrews 128 and 129 and vertically by rotation of screws 130 and 131 thusto produce proper feeding of fibers to the lickerin.

The doifer clearer roll 152, if used, is driven by a sprocket 154 on theleft end of shaft 48, over which sprocket passes chain 156, which inturn drives sprocket 158 secured to the clearer roll shaft 160. Thisshaft is carried by bearings 136 and 138 which are adjustable verticallywith respect to supporting brackets 132 and 134 by rotation of screws140 and 142 after loosening bolts 148 and 150. Horizontal adjustment ofthe clearer roll is achieved by loosening bolts 144 and 145 and turningadjusting screws 146 and 147.

Since the carding head just described requires less than a 90 degreesector of the knitting machine, it is apparent that as many as fourcarding heads may be applied to each circular knitting machine, assumingof course that the knitting machine has a corresponding number ofknitting points. With four carding heads, the production of pile fabricwill be four times as fast as the production using a single cardinghead. The character of the pile fabric, however, will be the same ineither case.

Since all of the points of adjustment are easy to get at, the machinemay readily be put in proper adjustment and so maintained. All of thechain and gear drives are conventional and of inexpensive, readilyobtained parts which lend themselves to low cost and long life.

It is my intention to cover all changes and modifications of the exampleof the invention herein chosen for purposes of the disclosure which donot constitute departures from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. Means for feeding fibers to a circular knitting machine whichincludes a base and a needle cylinder carrying a plurality of hookedneedles, said means comprising a carding head frame and carding elementsmounted thereon, said frame comprising a pair of spaced vertical plateshaving extended horizontal upper surfaces to which bearings may beattached, said plates fastened to the base of the knitting machine,pairs of spaced bearings mounted on the upper surfaces of said spacedplates, said bearings being adjustable vertically and lengthwise of saidplates, said pairs of bearings supporting a pair of feed rolls, alickerin and a doffer, a horizontal drive shaft at right angles to saidplates mounted on bearings fixed to said machine under the needlecylinder, gearing driven by said machine for rotating said shaft, andmeans mounted on the said plates and driven by said shaft for causingappropriate rotation of said feed rolls, lickerin and dotfer.

2. Means for feeding fibers to a circular knitting machine as set forthin claim 1, the shaft of the said doffer being substantially at the samelevel as the hooks of the needles whereby the fibers will be travelingupwardly when disposed in the hooks of said needles, the shaft of thelickerin being substantially below that of the dotfer, and the shafts ofthe feed rolls being substantially below the shaft of the lickerin, anda guide trough positioned between said plates and below said feed rollsfor directing said fibers upwardly to said feed rolls.

3. Means for driving the elements of a carding head associated with acircular knitting machine which includes a base and a needle cylinderrotatably mounted thereon, said means comprising a ring gear in fixedrelation and concentric with the needle cylinder of said machine, avertical shaft mounted in a bearing on said machine base, a gear on oneend of said shaft meshing with said ring gear, a bevel gear on the otherend of said vertical shaft, a horizontal drive shaft which is at rightangles to a radius of said ring gear, a bevel gear on said drive shaftmeshing with said bevel gear of said vertical shaft, first and secondsprockets on the ends of said drive shaft for driving the elements ofsaid carding head through the use of chains, a pair of spaced verticalplates having upper surfaces to which bearings may be attached, saidplates fastened to the said base of the knitting machine, pairs ofspaced bearings mounted on the upper surface of said plates, saidbearings supporting in parallelism the shafts of the elements of saidcarding head, said elements comprising a pair of feed rolls, a lickerinand a doffer, a third sprocket on one of said plates driven by a chainfrom said first drive shaft sprocket, a fourth sprocket afiixed to saidthird sprocket, and fifth and sixth sprockets on the shafts of saidlickerin and doifer, a chain engaging said fourth, fifth and sixthsprockets for driving. the lickerin and doifer, and means on the otherof said plates driven by a chain on said second sprocket for causingrotation of said feed rolls.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 86,211Cleveland et a1. Nov. 26, 1869 1,114,414 Tauber Oct. 20, 1914 1,848,370Moore Mar. 8, 1932 1,854,690 Casablancas Apr. 19, 1932 1,894,596 MooreJan. 17, 1933 2,017,073 Moore Oct. 15, 1935 2,301,677 Banfield Nov. 10,1942 2,621,444 Schuller Dec. 16, 1952 2,694,907 Moore Nov. 23, 19542,710,525 Brandt June 14, 1955 2,773,371 Moore Dec. 11, 1956 2,880,600Moore Apr. 7, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 15,080 Great Britain of 1888 177,472Great Britain Mar. 20, 1922 367, 30 Germany Jan. 18, 1923

